Customer Reviews

Yamaha C40 Full Size Nylon-String Classical Guitar

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When you approach the purchase of a musical instrument you can face a real minefield of decisions. You can pay a lot of money for a real quality instrument, but if you can't play it - then the money is wasted. You must buy the instrument that suits the kind of music you want to play.

This is especially true with Guitars. Broadly you can have classical, spanish, folk, acoustic, steel and electric guitars (but there are lots of in-between categories)

This is a classical guitar. So what does that mean, and what should you be looking for?

First off, it has the strings set widely apart, since a classical guitar is designed to be plucked, not strummed. Wide spacing between the strings allows you to get your fingers into the strings to pluck them.

Secondly : The fretboard is flat, and this means you need to reach further with your fingers to cover all the strings. If you have a small hand, or are buying a guitar for a child, this could present difficulties. Folk (acoustic) guitars have slightly curved fretboards.

Thirdly, this is a guitar designed to take soft strings of nylon or gut. Metal strings could damage a classical guitar, cutting into the wood and overstraining the neck. The soft strings give the guitar a full, but soft and gentle tone. It is not designed for playing heavy metal. It is a guitar for a small room, not for a stadium.

Probably the most important elements you want in your guitar are that it be easy to tune and has a good action. Yamaha have a great reputation for quality and consistency, which is why you can think of buying one of their guitars without playing it. You can pretty much guarantee that the tuning keys will operate properly and will not wiggle around, spoiling your tuning.

The action is the one thing you cannot gauge without holding the guitar in your hands. This is a combination of the tension of the strings and the height of the strings over the fretboard. If the strings are tense (steel strings or 12 string guitar) they can pull the head of the guitar upwards, bringing the strings farther from the fretboard. This means your fingers have to be very strong to depress the strings and make clear notes. A tightly strung steel string guitar needs a very low action or it is unplayable. But an action that is too low will leave strings vibrating against the frets, disrupting the sound of the guitar. This is less of a problem with classical guitars, because they have soft strings and lower tension. Even if they are set high you will rarely have difficulty bringing them down to the frets.

For the price it is hard to beat this guitar as a starter instrument for someone learning from scratch. You will be able to learn the rudiments of classical, spanish and folk music, and this will give a student a route into electric guitar should they want to go the rock route later on.

Anyone who can master the wide frets on this guitar will easily be able to transfer to a folk or electric guitar later. But if you start with a folk guitar, where the strings are set close together, you will find it difficult to move out to a classical guitar.

If in doubt, go to your local music shop and spend a day messing with the stock to get a feel for what is important to you.

I have been playing the guitar for a couple of years now. This was my first guitar, and was great to learn on. It may not sound like a $5000 Martin, but this is a ton of value for the dollar. The price is about as low as you can get for any guitar, period. And this guitar is not merely a learners guitar. I've played it for a couple of gigs, and it performs great. The real advantage of this guitar is the ease of picking. The strings are set much farther apart than on a standard guitar; the neck is much wider. Thus, you can pick much easier than on a standard folk guitar. Because of this, however, and the nylon strings, it leaves something to be desired on the strum, but will perform good enough for most occasions. Overall, get this guitar if you are a beginner, don't want to invest a lot of money, or just want to experiment with the style of guitar, but not if you want a classical guitar to play professionally.

When I was 15 years old I bought this same or similar Yamaha Classical Guitar model. It was one I bought used from a friend's guitar teacher. I loved that guitar. Never did I have a single complaint about it. And I had it with me everywhere I went until I was almost 40 years old.

My son was an avid electric guitar player who wanted to give acoustic a try. Since I didn't have time to play my guitar during that time of my life I LENT my guitar to him. When I eventually had more free time and wanted to get back into my music I asked my son to please return my guitar, the one I let him BORROW. It was at that time he informed me that he SOLD it to a buddy when he needed money buy a Fender bass. Kids...

So...I bought this one and am very happy to have a Yamaha Classical Guitar back in my possession. The only differences I can see between my old one and this one are the colors and design around the sound hole and the absence of Yamaha on the headstock. To be sure this was the brand of classical guitar I wanted, I tried several different brands and models available on Amazon.com at local guitar stores.

Every other brand of classical guitar, regardless of the price, did not hold up to the sound of the Yamaha guitars. I'm not saying the other brands did not sound good. What I'm saying is the Yamahas sounded great. Should I ever decide to upgrade to a better classical guitar, I will stay with Yamaha.

I could not find a lower price for this model than the Amazon.com price...anywhere. Having the Free Shipping option was a major plus.

There is only one reason I needed to call the Yamaha Customer Support Line. I needed to ask where the serial number is located. I couldn't find it to save my life. On the C40, look inside the sound hole to the inside edge of the fretboard.

My guitar was wrapped very well for shipping. It came with "The Yamaha Guitar Quickstart DVD." The DVD has some very useful information to help you get started if you have no idea what to do with your guitar once you take it out of the box. A "Welcome" sheet with some good basics for beginners was also included.

It is so good to have another Yamaha Classsical Guitar back in my life.

The C40 is my first guitar and I could not be happier. It is well built, pretty and sounds beautiful to my ears. It sounds so good other people don't mind hearing me practice. And I even get compliments on the pretty sounds I make with my Yammy!

I researched the C40 on the 'net before buying it and my experience with the guitar confirms the positive reviews.

The C40 stays in tune. It's not LOUD. (I don't want loud at this point!) There were no rough wood edges or extra glue globs and the wood stain is evenly applied.

The C40 has so much bang for the buck, I reccommend it to anyone who wants their first nylon string guitar. If you want to learn how to play guitar this is a wonderful place to start.

I am happy the C40 exists and that I could buy it.

If I ever buy another guitar it will probably be a Yamaha.

I was amazed that I got such a great guitar for only $100. It is MUCH better than those similarly priced guitars at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc.

First of all, it has a great sound and stays in tune really well. Also, the fretboard has a really nice feel to it; I find it much easier to play than most guitars. The finish is nice too; it looks like it costs 5 times what it does.

Most people view it as a beginner's guitar, and so did I when I bought it. However, I don't really feel the need to replace it anytime soon, as I like it better than several more expensive guitars that I have played.

Highly recommended for beginners and intermediates looking for a great guitar for a great price.

This is not a guitar that you buy to play led zeplin, Korn or any other american rock music. This is the perfect guitar to get that authentic spanish sound. This is not a guitar to learn on unless you want to learn classical spanish ballads, however I do think it is a good investment for a beginner that only has an electric guitar.

The reason the strings are far appart is for finger plucking and nylon strings need to sit higher than steal strings. When I played this guitar for the first time at my local guitar store, I loved it (and still do!). You can't play rock, but songs like "dust in the wind" (all finger plucking) are great for this guitar. Just like a strat is for rock, a telecaster is for country, a les paul is for lead, hollowbodies are for blues and so on, this guitar is for classical spanish music. If you want a good beginner guitar, get a Ovation knock off or a Dean (Deans are the best for beginners).

I have some very expensive guitars, but I love playing classical music for girls on this one, and they love it. It is my weapon of choice!

Simply put: It's a great guitar for spanish ballads, and soft finger plucking songs, but not much else, because that's not what it was designed for.

I was amazed to get such a beautiful and acoustically sound guitar for such a low price. The finish is excellent and the tone very pleasing. Although I bought the guitar for someone 16 years old, I am very glad that I did.

I've tried the C40 a number of times, and I've always found it a bit lacking. While the price is very reasonable, I can't really bring myself to recommend the guitar. The sound (both basses and trebles) overall is muted, and it feels a little bit too light and cheap. No fit-and-finish issues, but it sometimes feels a bit like a cardboard box with strings.

Granted, for USD99 (Amazon's price at the time of writing), it's not a bad instrument, and if price is your only concern, then it's hard to criticise issues like weak sound and light/cheap construction. Even if you're a beginner, though, you will notice the difference if you're willing to spend a bit more on your guitar. In addition, while the C40 might be worth the 99 dollars it's being sold for here, you can do a lot better around the C40's list price of USD170.

I bought an Almansa 402 for about USD220 a few years back as a secondary "beater" guitar - while it's not spectacular, it has much more presence, and is much more fun to play, than the C40s I have tried. In my experience, the higher-end Yamaha guitars can be great (I love my GC-7), but they tend to skimp a bit at the lower end.

In the end, though, it's up to you - obviously other reviewers are happy with their C40s, and I don't want to be too much of a wet blanket!

I've been playing steel string and electrics for the past 20 years so I'm not new to this..but I wanted to try a little classical. I wanted something decent but inexpensive incase I don't like the classical style too much so based on reviews I decided to buy the C40 Gigmaker pack. I also played a few other classical guitars in this price range at my local guitar center for comparison.

First thing I noticed was that the build quality was quite superior for a product in this price range. The finish was excellent and the fretboard was absolutely even with no flaws. However, when I first played the thing I was very disappointed because it sounded aweful! Luckily I knew what the problem was... the strings that come with this guitar are absolutely horrendous. Yamaha totally skimped on the strings which is rather odd! I knew this due to feedback from others and had also ordered some D'Addario Pro Arte classical strings. After restringing the guitar with the D'Addarios the difference was night and day. A word of caution: restringing a classical is a pain, unlike steel strings nylon strings need to be "stretched in" so they may lose tuning until they are fully stretched.

I've been playing some simple classical pieces that I knew how to play on my steel string (Romance, Aria etc.) and it sounds pretty damn good. I'm really impressed at the quality of tone from a guitar in this price range. Some people complained about the cheapness of the tuners. I don't see any issues with them, they work just fine.

The bottom line is that if you're looking for an entry level classical guitar you cannot do any better than the C40.

Good job Yamaha!

Got my Yamaha guitar a few months ago and considering I am not a professional musician I am very much happy with the sound and performance of my instrument.